Love Densely
by SkyeFinal
Summary: //One shot. For Midnight Shine// Because they were both dense and needed a nudge in the right direction. Yami and Yugi felt obligated to help them. //JoeyxMai//


_Love Densely  
---By KumoDango_

* * *

In the midst of midnight, a pair of feet walked towards a destination. Oddly enough, despite the pair of shoes walking across cement it made no sound. While other people would wonder about this fact, they would be too focused about the lack of sound, rather than focusing on the apparent presence of shadows swirling around the shoes and its owner. Ruby eyes settled to a rather remote hotel yet very high class, as evident by the architecture and resources used to create it.

Making sure no one was in the vicinity in danger of being seen, the boy closed his eyes in concentration. The short teenager raised his hand as if to repel an invisible enemy but the gesture only caused the shadows circling his feet to rise up and engulf him entirely, transporting him inside a specific room.

Inside a certain female ex-dealer room, the occupant remained asleep. Unaware of the shadows parting to let their caller enter. The shadows retreated, but continued to keep circling the feet of the teenager, waiting to be called once more. The intruder carefully walked across the plush carpet, moonlight glinting on a golden triangle hanging from the boy's neck. Upon finding a deck of brown cards on a cushion on top of a dresser, he quickly went towards the cards and reached out to quickly find the card he needed for his plans. Just as he was about to obtain the deck, his hand stopped.

/_Yami, are you sure this is fine?/_ Worried violet eyes appeared next Yami, although Yugi's eyes looked solid, his body was not.

//_Yes, trust me aibou.//_ Yami responded in his mind, it wouldn't do to wake up the occupant now, not when he was so close. //_I am only going to borrow the card for a short while.//_

/_But…_./

//_It's only for a day_// Ruby eyes twinkled in mischief. //_Plus, I believe when this is all over, she will thank me._//

Laughter. /_Alright, I just hope this plan works._/

//_It will, trust me_.//

/_I do. Always._/

Satisfied that his second conscience was assured that nothing bad was going to happened now and later, he quickly shuffled through the cards until he found what he was looking for. _Harpy Lady_, Yami put the rest of the deck down and turned around. Oh he knew the consequences of taking a card away from the duelist, but he hoped to convince the winged monster to follow his plan. No monster would be taken away from their master without a fight.

True to his words, Harpy Lady materialized in front of Yami. Although many people assumed harpies would attack at first sign of danger, as being classified as one of the Greek death-spirits, however few know the true personality of a harpy.

//_I'd rather be confronted by a harpy rather than a siren.//_

Snicker. /_You'd rather be gorged out than be seduced?/_

//_Unlike the siren, harpies listen and then 'gorge' their prey. Sirens prefer to act first and then listen.//_ Yami said dryly. //_Joey's poor luck with women must be rubbing off on you, if you want to be seduced so badly.//_

/_Yami!_/ Came the indigent reply.

//_It was a joke, aibou. Hush now. It seems I've made her wait too long.//_ Temporally shutting off the mental communication with this other half, Yami bowed in front of the winged monster. "_Empros, filos. Eirini i_." The winged monster cawed back in greeting and Yami straightened. _Glad my knowledge on Greek dialect hasn't been forgotten._

_Ti kano eseis thelo_, _archaios enas?_

_Why have you come, Ancient One?_

"I only want to borrow you for a day, nothing more nothing less. I swear no harm will befall on you during that time."

_Giati?_

_Why?_

"I wish to give two very stubborn friends of mine a nudge in the right direction, one whom is your master. " Yami smirked, "Tomorrow is a day for celebrations of hearts, it wouldn't hurt to help your master and my friend just this one time."

_Panexypnos. Symfono mazi sas._

_Clever. Very well, I agree._

"I thank you." Yami watched as Harpy Lady's form dispersed and soft glows of light flew back into the card. //_That went well._//

/_Glad we didn't get eaten._/

//_Oh you. Over time humans only made that myth up because they were afraid of the harpies' appearance. In actuality, they don't eat humans at all, they merely snatch their food._//

/_Why didn't you tell me that earlier!_/

Grin. //_Be far it from me not to enjoy your uneasiness._// Yami could feel the pout that Yugi was wearing now. He knew his other was hiding in his soul room while he was speaking with the harpy. //_Now, let us take our leave. Dawn is approaching._// Yami once again summoned the eager shadows, and left without a trace.

----

It was another day for Solomon at the Turtle Shop; he switched the closed sign to open. In a few moments Yugi would wake up and help him with the customers. Although said customers would turn out to be duelists hoping to duel Yugi in order to gain the title of 'King of Games', and win the God cards to boot. Just as Solomon sat behind the counter, the door opened with a loud clatter.

"Old man! It's terrible! Where's Yugi?!" A blur of yellow, purple and white jumped in front of Solomon. Dazed, he stammered for a few minutes until he could mutter that Yugi was currently still asleep and upstairs. Ignoring the fact that Solomon had stated that Yugi was asleep, the blur dashed up the stairs.

"…." The elder Mutou stared at the stairways leading up to the residential area for the Mutou family. He winced as he heard another door banged open and stomping could be heard. Yelling now could be heard as well, from downstairs and he was sure the neighbours could hear it as well.

"_Aaah!"_

"_Yugi! Wake up! It's a crisis!"_

"_M-Mai! L-let go!"_

Sigh.

---

"Why don't you explain the situation first, Ms. Mai?" Solomon placed a cup of tea to calm the lady's nerve. He hasn't spoken to the women before, but from his encounters with Mai, he knew it would take a lot to break the composure that she had. He glanced at Yugi who still looked frazzled from being shaken up by a frantic woman so early in the morning, certainly not the way he was hoping to be woken up. "What is the crisis you speak of?"

"My Harpy Lady card is gone!" Mai exclaimed throwing up her hands. "I've checked everywhere, but I don't know where it went. I usually leave my deck of cards on a cushion next to my bed and I know I locked the doors but it's definitely missing!" Mai buried her head in her hands in sorrow.

"So the reason why you came over here is because…" Yugi said hesitantly. Mai didn't answer, too lost in her thoughts. /_Did we leave anything behind that gave her the idea that we stole her card?_/ He glanced nervously to his side, where his darker half appeared in translucent form.

//_Nothing. I made sure to leave nothing behind that could be used to trace us._// Yami crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes in thought. //_Ah. But this works in our favour, aibou._// A subtle flash of gold and light switched to dark.

"Actually, there's this rumour going on about stolen cards." Yami said thoughtfully. Mai gave him a hopeful stare. "There's this thief, called the 'Love Thief' going about and stealing cards. So I don't think it's only your card being stolen Mai."

"But why is he called the Love Thief?" His grandpa asked.

"Supposedly, he takes those cards and puts them inside valentine gifts."

Mai suddenly let out a scream of outrage. "My Harpy Lady is _not_ a gift for an idiotic thief to use around like that!" Both Yami and Solomon backed away from Mai, as she suddenly went off in her own world ranting. "That's _it_! I'm going to show that idiot the consequences of taking _my _card! You're coming too Yugi!" Mai dragged a protesting Yami out of the door, leaving Solomon alone in the shop. Trust Yugi to attract trouble without fail.

---

After splitting up with Mai'In order to cover more ground!' stated by the woman, Yami leisurely wandered around town. He had time to find the last part of his plan, might as well enjoy the sunny day.

"Hey Yugi!" A loud voice cut through the air, as a blond teenager ran towards Yami waving his hand. _Lady Luck is certainly on my side_, thought Yami. He greeted Joey as he watched the blond catch his breath. "Whatya doing out here? Aren't ya usually helping out the yer grandpa?"

"I'm out doing an errand." Yami replied. "By the way, have you seen Mai?"

"Huh? Yeah, I went to her to say hi, but she seemed really angry for some reason. She just stormed past me without saying hi back!"

_Excellent._ "I think I know the reason why."

"Ya do? What's the reason?"

Yami _almost_ felt bad for manipulating Joey like this, but he had no choice. Joey was a bit dense in the area of love, and everyone knew that he had a crush on Mai. Heck, even Mai knew! And it didn't help that Joey didn't learn how to keep his mouth shut sometimes. "Do you happen to know what the date is today Joey?"

The blond made a confused face. "February fourteenth. But what does that have to do with anything Yugi?"

Yami wanted to face palm right there once he heard his best friend's reply. /_Well, it's not entirely Joey's fault. He had too much to worry back then to think about Valentine's Day._/ That didn't stop the laughter resounding in Yami's mind, courtesy of Yugi.

//_ I know aibou, it's just…I should have seen that coming._// Yami cleared his thoughts about Joey's intelligence and replied the still confused blond. "Joey. February fourteenth is Valentine's Day. Did you buy a gift for Mai yet?"

Yami was met with silence for a while, as Joey stared blankly back at Yami.

"Was I suppose to?"

Yami refrained from face palming, but he did let out a sigh. "Come on, I'll help you buy a present for Mai."

"W-wait Yugi! If I give a present to Mai, doesn't that mean I'm proclaiming my love to her or something?"

Yami raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to proclaim your love to Mai."

Joey blushed and stammered. "No! Where on the heck did ya get that idea!?"

Yami let out a tiny grin. "You just look so sad like a lost puppy every time you fight. Would this not be the best way to gain some points with Mai?"

----

_"I-idiot! Watch where you fall!"_

_"I said I was sorry!"_

_"Sorry doesn't cut it! Look at what you did to my shirt!"_

_"Ya call that a shirt? More like a piece of cloth!"_

_"Excuse me!?" Slap._

_"Ow!"_

_"Don't talk to me ever! Go away!"_

----

Joey remembered the most recent fight he had with Mai. He also smashed some of her priceless perfume bottles when he fell. "You got a point there, Yugi." Laughing, Yami led a blushing Joey into a mall to make sure Joey buys an appropriate gift for the female duelist. After pushing the reluctant blond inside the mall, Yami put a hand next to his pocket where he put the last piece of the plan. If all goes well there would be a new couple in Domino City. He smiled as he felt the approval of his light and the harpy in the back of his mind.

---

Mai angrily stomped through the streets of Domino City. No matter where she asked, she could not find any leads on this 'Love Thief'. _I swear, Yugi had better be saying the truth. Or the next time I see him…_ Mai thought crossly, not only had she wasted an entire day on a goose chase she still haven't found her beloved Harpy Lady card. It infuriated her, knowing that her favourite card could be in the hands of someone so…so…

"Hey! Mai! Wait up will ya!" Joey shattered Mai's mind rant, as she turned around and saw the blond running towards her. _Oh great, another idiot._ Strange, it seemed like Joey was holding something behind his back awkwardly as he was getting closer to her.

Crossing her arms and giving the blond a speculative gaze Mai crisply spoke, "What do you want? I'm very busy trying to find something that is missing."

"Geez, give me a break will ya?" Joey said catching his breath, "Wasn't easy chasing after someone who stomped her way through the streets." When Mai gave Joey a glare, he knew he should've kept his mouth shut. He wasn't sure if he should even give her the present anymore. Oh well, a man only lived once. "A-anyways, here."

A red package was suddenly shoved in Mai's vision. Staring at it suspiciously, she took the red package. She raised an eyebrow to Joey silently asking him what this package is. Joey only scratched his nose with a finger and motioned her to open the gift. Shrugging, she tore open the wrapping and opened the lid.

Inside laid various small bottles of perfume. The bottles all had very detailed decorations which made up for the lack of quantity of the perfumes but Mai could tell these perfumes were high-quality. Aside from the perfume, there lying right in the middle was a single red tulip. Mai knew the language of flowers, but something else caught her attention. What caught Mai's attention the most was the single card next to the tulip. The cause of her stress and anger today laid innocently there, the Harpy Lady card.

She gave a cry of delight and hugged Joey. "You found my card!" Joey gave a confused look at Mai, but she didn't care. She then promptly kissed Joey on the cheek and headed back home with the intention to take a hot bath to relieve some of the stress that came with today. Mai looked back and saw a dazed yet still slightly confused Joey looking at her. _He may be an idiot, but he does have some good moments._

"H-hey! I don't know anything about card, but you haven't said anything about the perfumes!" cried Joey. _Those didn't come cheap man._

She winked and waved back, "Don't worry, I'll make sure to use your perfumes!" Mai held the red tulip to her lips and kissed it. "But I think this is the best gift of all."

Mai briskly walked back home humming under her breath. She didn't know if her happiness was because she finally found her card, or whether it was because Joey blushed and smiled when she kissed the red tulip. Mai felt giddy though, when she remembered the flower that Joey gave her. _Declaration of love, huh? Yeah, he does have some good moments._ "Now then," Mai stretche her arms above her head, "What to give that idiot back on White Day."

And in the shadows, ruby and violet eyes smiled at each other.

* * *

**Author's Note**: First YuGiOh fic. I just hope I don't disappoint the fans with my OOC-ness and bad story pacing. But I liked doing this, cause Joey is adorable and Mai is funny to me. Although I was a bit sad to find out that the creators strictly said Joey and Mai are only friends, and Mai likes that...guy [sorry, can't remember his name]. I might go back and edit this later, but I want to upload this before I forget and lose the courage to. I intended this to be...a JoeyXMai fic...but somehow the relationship between Yugi and Yami are explored more than the love relationship with Joey and Mai. orz.

Not my fault I love the hikari and yami theme with Yugi and Pharaoh, haha.  
Oh yeah, I planned this fic in February, so that's why this fic is set in February. Don't mind the lateness. February was my exam hell month.

Dedicated to Midnight Shine

_03.20.09_ Added some more stuff in, Mai and Joey's fight and changed a little of the ending.


End file.
